Face.com acquired by Facebook for an estimated $80 million+, facial tagging clearly at the forefront

Facebook already dropped the "the," so why not oversimplify and drop the "book," too? All jesting aside, Facebook is continuing its recent buying spree with the acquisition of Face.com for an estimated $80 - $100 million. The Israeli-based startup is being entirely scooped up by Zuckerberg's social network -- talent and technology included -- and it's fairly obvious that the company's heralded facial recognition IP is what Facebook is truly after. To date, Facebook's desktop tagging recognition is ho hum at best, and it's practically an afterthought on the mobile front; 'course, with Camera• now being released, it's high time the company got serious about tagging on the go. For those wondering, Face's blog post on the matter seems to make clear that third-parties currently using its API will continue to be supported, and while there aren't specific plans being laid out, we're told that the "next steps are going to be exciting for all of us." In related news, it's tremendously unlikely that Barnes & Noble lets go of book.com in order to give Facebook the pleasure of owning both ends of the URL spectrum.